Lü Junchang (; 1965 – 9 October 2018) was a Chinese

palaeontologist Paleontology (), also spelled palaeontology or palæontology, is the scientific study of life that existed prior to, and sometimes including, the start of the Holocene epoch (roughly 11,700 years before present). It includes the study of fossi ...

and professor at the Institute of Geology,

Chinese Academy of Geological Sciences The Chinese Academy of Geological Sciences (CAGS; ) is an institution that engages in geoscience research in the People's Republic of China. The academy was established in 1956 and reorganized in 1999. Administratively it is under the PRC Ministry ...

. An expert on

Mesozoic The Mesozoic Era ( ), also called the Age of Reptiles, the Age of Conifers, and colloquially as the Age of the Dinosaurs is the second-to-last era of Earth's geological history, lasting from about , comprising the Triassic, Jurassic and Cretaceo ...

reptiles, he described and named dozens of

dinosaur Dinosaurs are a diverse group of reptiles of the clade Dinosauria. They first appeared during the Triassic period, between 243 and 233.23 million years ago (mya), although the exact origin and timing of the evolution of dinosaurs is t ...

and

pterosaur Pterosaurs (; from Greek ''pteron'' and ''sauros'', meaning "wing lizard") is an extinct clade of flying reptiles in the order, Pterosauria. They existed during most of the Mesozoic: from the Late Triassic to the end of the Cretaceous (228 to ...

taxa including ''

Tongtianlong ''Tongtianlong'' (meaning "Tongtianyan dragon") is a genus of oviraptorid theropod dinosaurs that lived in the late Maastrichtian epoch of the late Cretaceous period. It contains one species, ''T. limosus''. Description ''Tongtianlong'' was a ...

'', ''

Qianzhousaurus ''Qianzhousaurus'' (meaning "Qianzhou lizard") is a genus of tyrannosaurid dinosaurs that lived in Asia during the Late Cretaceous period. There is currently only one species named, the type species ''Qianzhousaurus sinensis'' which is a member ...

'', ''

Heyuannia ''Heyuannia'' ("from Heyuan") is a genus of oviraptorid dinosaur that lived in Asia during the Late Cretaceous epoch, in what is now China and Mongolia. It was the first oviraptorid found in China; most others were found in neighbouring Mongoli ...

'', '' Gannansaurus'', ''

Yunnanosaurus youngi ''Yunnanosaurus'' ( ) is an extinct genus of sauropodomorph dinosaur that lived approximately 199 to 183 million years ago in what is now the Yunnan Province, in China, for which it was named. ''Yunnanosaurus'' was a large sized, moderately-buil ...

'', and ''

Darwinopterus ''Darwinopterus'' (meaning "Darwin's wing") is a genus of pterosaur, discovered in China and named after biologist Charles Darwin. Between 30 and 40 fossil specimens have been identified, all collected from the Tiaojishan Formation, which dates t ...

.''

Biography

Lü was born in 1965. He graduated from

Lanzhou University Lanzhou University () is a major research university in Lanzhou, Gansu, China. Founded in 1909, it is one of the key universities under China's Ministry of Education (Double First Class University Plan, former Project 985 and Project 211). It ...

in 1989 with a bachelor's degree in

geology Geology () is a branch of natural science concerned with Earth and other astronomical objects, the features or rocks of which it is composed, and the processes by which they change over time. Modern geology significantly overlaps all other Ear ...

. He studied at the

Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology The Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology (IVPP; ) of China is a research institution and collections repository for fossils, including many dinosaur and pterosaur specimens (many from the Yixian Formation). As its name suggest ...

(IVPP) of the

Chinese Academy of Sciences The Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS); ), known by Academia Sinica in English until the 1980s, is the national academy of the People's Republic of China for natural sciences. It has historical origins in the Academia Sinica during the Republ ...

from 1997 to 2000 and earned his master's degree. He subsequently went to the United States to study at the Department of Earth Sciences at the

Southern Methodist University , mottoeng = "The truth will make you free" , established = , type = Private research university , accreditation = SACS , academic_affiliations = , religious_affiliation = United Methodist Church , president = R. Gerald Turner , prov ...

, earning his Ph.D. in 2004. Lü began working for the

in July 2004, initially as a postdoctoral researcher, then as associate professor and eventually as professor and doctoral advisor. An expert on

reptiles such as dinosaurs and pterosaurs, Lü conducted field research and excavation in more than ten Chinese provinces including

Liaoning Liaoning () is a coastal province in Northeast China that is the smallest, southernmost, and most populous province in the region. With its capital at Shenyang, it is located on the northern shore of the Yellow Sea, and is the northernmost ...

Henan Henan (; or ; ; alternatively Honan) is a landlocked province of China, in the central part of the country. Henan is often referred to as Zhongyuan or Zhongzhou (), which literally means "central plain" or "midland", although the name is al ...

, and

Xinjiang Xinjiang, SASM/GNC: ''Xinjang''; zh, c=, p=Xīnjiāng; formerly romanized as Sinkiang (, ), officially the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region (XUAR), is an autonomous region of the People's Republic of China (PRC), located in the northwest ...

, as well as foreign countries such as Canada, the United States, Britain, Mongolia, South Korea, and Japan. He participated in many international cooperation projects including the Sino-Canadian Dinosaur Project of 1999, Sino-Japanese Silk Road Dinosaur Survey in 1992–1993, the Sino-Japanese-Mongolian Gobi Desert Dinosaur Survey (1995–1998), and the South Korea–Mongolia Plateau Dinosaur Survey (2006, 2008, and 2010). Partly because of years of overwork, Lü suffered from

diabetes Diabetes, also known as diabetes mellitus, is a group of metabolic disorders characterized by a high blood sugar level ( hyperglycemia) over a prolonged period of time. Symptoms often include frequent urination, increased thirst and increased ap ...

. On 9 October 2018, he died suddenly in Beijing, at the age of 53. A pterosaur species named Luchibang was named after him.

Major discoveries

In 2002, Lü Junchang identified and named a

genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus com ...

oviraptorid Oviraptoridae is a group of bird-like, herbivorous and omnivorous maniraptoran dinosaurs. Oviraptorids are characterized by their toothless, parrot-like beaks and, in some cases, elaborate crests. They were generally small, measuring between on ...

, ''

''. For his contributions to dinosaur research in

Heyuan Héyuán (, Hakka:Fò-Ngiàn) is a prefecture-level city of Guangdong province in the People's Republic of China. As of the 2020 census, its population was 2,837,686 whom 1,051,993 lived in the built-up (''or metro'') area made of Yuancheng urban ...

Guangdong Guangdong (, ), alternatively romanized as Canton or Kwangtung, is a coastal province in South China on the north shore of the South China Sea. The capital of the province is Guangzhou. With a population of 126.01 million (as of 2020) ...

, he was named the honorary director of Heyuan Museum and an honorary citizen of Heyuan. In 2007, he described a second species of ''

Yunnanosaurus ''Yunnanosaurus'' ( ) is an extinct genus of sauropodomorph dinosaur that lived approximately 199 to 183 million years ago in what is now the Yunnan Province, in China, for which it was named. ''Yunnanosaurus'' was a large sized, moderately-buil ...

'', and named it ''Yunnanosaurus youngi'', after

Yang Zhongjian Yang Zhongjian, also Yang Chung-chien (; 1 June 1897 – 15 January 1979), courtesy name Keqiang (), also known as C.C. (Chung Chien) Young, was a Chinese paleontologist and zoologist. He was one of China's foremost vertebrate paleontologists. H ...

(C. C. Young), the discoverer of the genus. In 2009, Lü, and his colleagues first described the new pterosaur genus ''

'', and identified a nearly complete fossil of a pregnant ''Darwinopterus'' with an egg, which they named "Mrs. T". In 2014, Lü Junchang, Stephen L. Brusatte ''et al.'' discovered ''

'', a new genus of

tyrannosaur Tyrannosauroidea (meaning 'tyrant lizard forms') is a superfamily (or clade) of coelurosaurian theropod dinosaurs that includes the family Tyrannosauridae as well as more basal relatives. Tyrannosauroids lived on the Laurasian supercontinent ...

with long snouts, which they nicknamed "Pinocchio rex". In 2016, Lü and his team described and named the new dinosaur genus ''

'' in

Ganzhou Ganzhou (), alternately romanized as Kanchow, is a prefecture-level city in the south of Jiangxi province, China, bordering Fujian to the east, Guangdong to the south, and Hunan to the west. Its administrative seat is at Zhanggong District. Hist ...

Jiangxi Jiangxi (; ; formerly romanized as Kiangsi or Chianghsi) is a landlocked province in the east of the People's Republic of China. Its major cities include Nanchang and Jiujiang. Spanning from the banks of the Yangtze river in the north int ...

, China, in the

Nanxiong Formation The Nanxiong Formation (also known as Yuanpu Formation) is a Late Cretaceous geologic formation in Guangdong Province. Dinosaur remains are among the fossils that have been recovered from the formation. Description It consists of continental s ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lu, Junchang 1965 births 2018 deaths Chinese paleontologists Lanzhou University alumni Southern Methodist University alumni University of the Chinese Academy of Sciences alumni

Biography

Major discoveries

See also

References